The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in several conversations following England's defeat in the second Ashes against Australia previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.
"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I required," said the England leader.
But, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "weak men" comment after England were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this Test."
Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a notional target of 435.
This means, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an unassailable three-nil lead with three matches played.
A loss would prolong England's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes series loss.
This series will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
Although Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has never made a half-century and averages 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley said any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. It is talk externally. There is no chat like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
